Bill Ayers' Role in Obama Book Questioned Again

Questions are being raised again about the role Bill Ayers, a former radical activist turned elementary-education theorist, played in the writing of President Barack Obama's bestselling memoir, "Dreams From My Father."

Ayers, a 1969 co-founder of the self-described communist revolutionary group Weather Underground, is now promoting his new book, "Public Enemy," and his publisher is using suggestions that Ayers wrote the president's book in its publicity material, Investor's Business Daily reports.

Beacon Press wrote in a blurb on Amazon.comthat in the book, Ayers "reveals how he has navigated the challenges and triumphs of this public life with steadfastness and a dash of good humor — from the red carpet at the Oscars, to prison vigils and airports (where he is often detained and where he finally "confesses" that he did write Dreams from My Father)."

In March 2011, Ayers touched on the issue after giving a speech at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

When a student asked him to comment on a Time magazine review of "Dreams From My Father," calling it "the "best memoir ever written by an American politician," Ayers said he thought it was very good.

"The second one was more of a political hack book, but the first book's quite good," he said, adding, "Did you know I wrote it?"

After an astonished reaction, Ayers said, "Yes, I wrote that, and if you can help me prove it, I'll split the royalties with you."

Ayers was in Washington, D.C., last Friday promoting his new book. At a signing, he said that although he and Obama had crossed paths many times through their community activism in Chicago, he never regarded the president as a dedicated "leftist" like himself, Mediaite reports.

Questions are being raised again about the role Bill Ayers, a former radical activist turned elementary-education theorist, played in the writing of President Barack Obama's bestselling memoir, "Dreams From My Father."